Exploring the happenings around the 1874 Pangkor Treaty in Perak... Opening the 'act' at Tanjung Malim

Peace be upon you all. Just over a week ago I made my latest trip to Perak. Unlike in my previous trips where I just travelled along a certain direction visiting certain places especially old tombs along the way, this time I had a mission to record what happened along the trip on video with the particular focus of relating everything to what happened in Perak around the time of the signing of the Pangkor Treaty of 1874 and how it affected the state and in turn the whole outlook of the nation now known as Malaysia.

Hmm... This needs a long explanation and a lot of background knowledge actually. So let me just copy and paste these bits from the Wikipedia...

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The Pangkor Treaty of 1874 was a treaty signed between the British and the Sultan of Perak. Signed on January 20, 1874 on the island of Pangkor off Perak, the treaty is significant in history of the Malay states as it signalled official British involvement in the policies of the Malays.

Precedence

Sultan Abdullah of Perak

Perak was a major tin producer throughout the nineteenth century, leading the UK, which had already obtained Penang, Malacca and Singapore, to consider Perak of significant importance. However, local strife collectively known as the Larut War between the local Malay elites and frequent clashes between secret Chinese societies disrupted the flow of tin from the mines of Perak.

In 1871, Sultan Ali, the ruler of Perak died. Raja Abdullah, as Raja Muda or the next in line ruler, should have been appointed as the next Sultan of Perak but Raja Bendahara Raja Ismail was elected instead. The reason being, Raja Abdullah was not present during the burial of the late Sultan Ali. At around the same time, two secret Chinese societies known as Ghee Hin led by Chin Ah Yam and Hai San led by Chung Keng Quee constantly waged battle against each other for control of the tin mines.

Agreement

Raja Abdullah later asked for the British help to solve these two problems. In her book "The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither" (Published 1892 G.P. Putnam's Sons) Victorian traveller and adventuress Isabella Lucy Bird (1831-1904) describes how Raja Muda Abdullah as he then was turned to his friend in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching. Tan, together with an English merchant in Singapore drafted a letter to Governor Sir Andrew Clarke which Abdullah signed. The letter expressed Abdullah's desire to place Perak under British protection, and "to have a man of sufficient abilities to show (him) a good system of government." On the 26th of September, 1872 Chung Keng Quee had already presented a petition, signed by himself and 44 other Chinese leaders, seeking British interference following the attack of 12,000 men of Chung Shan by 2,000 men of Sen Ning. (The Petition.) The British immediately saw this as a great opportunity to expand its influence in Southeast Asia and strengthened its monopoly on tin. As a result, the Pangkor Treaty of 1874 was signed.

Terms and conditions

The agreement dictated:

• Raja Abdullah was acknowledged as the legitimate Sultan to replace Sultan Ismail who would be given a title and a pension of 1000 Mexican pesos a month.
• The Sultan would receive a British Resident whose advice had to be sought and adhered to in all matters except those pertaining to the religion and customs of the Malays.
• All collections and control of taxes as well as the administration of the state had to be done under the name of the Sultan but arranged according to the Resident's advice.
• The Minister of Larut would continue to be in control, but would no longer be recognized as a liberated leader. Instead, a British Officer, who would have a vast authority in administrating the district, would be appointed in Larut.
• The Sultan and not the British government would pay the Resident's salary
• Perak ceded Dinding and Pangkor Island to the British.

Raja Ismail did not attend the meeting arranged between Sir Andrew Clarke and Raja Abdullah. Raja Ismail obviously did not recognize the agreement but he had no choice against the alliance between Raja Abdullah and the British. As a result, Raja Abdullah was made Sultan and Sir James W.W. Birch was appointed as Perak's first British Resident after the treaty came to force.

Following this agreement, the British actively became involved in three other Malay states; Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Pahang. These states along with Perak later became the Federated Malay States.

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OK. That was just about the treaty, furthermore explained through a Western egocentric outlook which tends to neglect how the locals felt. There were actually many underlying circumstances leading to its signing and later many resulting undercurrents. But the most noted consequence was direct interference by the colonialist British in Perak's state affairs. The way the first British Resident to the state, J.W.W. Birch handled matters especially his lack of respect on local customs lead to his murder by the Malays in 1875 and that's when the damn burst...

This eventually lead to war and then the capture of many Malay warriors. Suffice to say in 1877 some main Malay figures were hanged to death while Perak ruler Sultan Abdullah along with some of his officials were banished to the Seychelles Islands in Africa.

Ah... This is indeed a long story. So please refer to my old articlesThe main players of the Perak-British war as depicted at the fort of Ngah Ibrahim... and In Perak's royal mausoleum to give justice to Laksamana Raja Mahkota Muhammad Amin for further supporting information.

Back to the story at hand... So I want to explore the happenings around the 1874 Pangkor Treaty in my latest trip to Perak while making a video on it. But the approach I took was based more on chance and gut feelings... Following a skeletal travel plan, I decided to just follow my heart where to stop or visit and just shoot the video, spontaneously making comments based on what I know (or rather what I remembered on the spot) about a place and how it relates to the main theme... How what happened around the Pangkor Treaty affected the future of Perak, the nation of Malaysia in turn and the Malays in particular.

Oh... Whatever, video clips of this trip is reserved for my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . The still pictures are to be shown in this blogspot along with suitable narratives. So shoot...

My good friend Zaidi @ PerpatihTulus who acted as the video cameraman fetched me in Kajang about 9am or so. Then we fetched a regular visitor to CATATAN SI MERAH SILU who goes by the name Dong.

By the way, this is the first time I opened a travel to anybody who wishes to join, at any point of the trip. As it turned out later, this particular trip actually got a total of 14 participants including 2 small kids but that is another story! Anyway, Zaidi and I fetched Dong at Jalan Pekeliling in Kuala Lumpur. We then took the North-South Highway and stopped for breakfast at the Sungai Buloh rest area, hence the picture above...

Soon enough we're back on the road. We got off the highway at the Tanjung Malim exit and stopped at a certain unique mosque...

Look... The mosque got a staircase right in the middle of the main hall leading to a certain part...

Staircases like this almost always prompt me to venture up...

A look at Zaidi conducting his extra prayers...

There, a view from the certain part... The mosque tower for calling out to prayers actually...

And finally a look at the mosque itself, from the outside. For more information please read the article Masjid Sheikh Ismail di Ulu Bernam (The mosque of Sheikh Ismail in Ulu Bernam) written in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) more than a year ago.

OK. While outsiders might refer to the whole surrounding area containing this mosque as being in Tanjung Malim, the fact is the mosque is actually situated in Ulu Bernam. Officially, one have to go another 200 meter up north to get to Tanjung Malim because that's where the borders are defined. You see, Ulu Bernam lies in the state of Selangor while Tanjung Malim is in Perak!

A look to my left or rather to the west shows this part of the Bernam river which form the natural state border...

A look to my right or to the east. With that, I have officially entered Perak and thus opened the 'act'.... That is the act of making a trip with a view of making a video and a story of what happened (or how I see it happened) around the 1874 Pangkor Treaty...

With Tanjung Malim done, my next destination is Teluk Intan, the town and district where my father was born at... The place where the main fort of Sultan Abdullah, the Perak Sultan who got exiled, used the stand... The place where my ancestors used to also hold fort in their fight against the British.

On the way we stopped at Sungkai and visit its old mosque above. A short story on it will be posted in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) afterwards. Cheers! :]

The unexpected Negeri Sembilan trip: From Kuala Talang on to Seremban to close the trip!

Greetings. Tonight let us finish the little series on the latest trip to Negeri Sembilan. Continuing from the article The unexpected Negeri Sembilan trip: Around Seri Menanti and on... Here it is.

OK. At the end of the article The unexpected Negeri Sembilan trip: Around Seri Menanti and on... , I made a little riddle. Where did I go to from Seri Menanti? Here I might as well come clean as we're already on the subject. The possible next destination from Seri Menanti as shown in the roadsigns in that article pointed to either Seremban, Kuala Pilah or Tanjung Ipoh.

Actually it's none. In fact the road taken to get to the next destination could as well take you to all three places!

OK, I'll stop fooling around. From Seri Menanti I took the road that says to Tanjong Ipoh or Kuala Pilah. Almost 20 km later it entered a T-Junction for the main road from Seremban to Kuala Pilah and vice versa.

The place I wanted to go to next was actually Kuala Talang. From the junction one have to head to Seremban and reach Tanjung Ipoh. It is from there only one could enter the small road to Kuala Talang.

So what is available there? Well for one there's the mosque shown up here. For better information, read the article Makam (Tomb of) Tuan Tulis in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART)

After I'm done, I head back to Tanjung Ipoh... Then only I took a picture of a megalithic site along the way. For information, there's plenty such sites within a 20km radius or so of this area!

Then I head to Seremban. Here's a nice place, Terachi... Quite vast tracks of padi field, not as vast as that in Kedah but still having it's own character surrounded by plenty of greens, jungles and a certain kind of tranquility that at times felt like magic! Perhaps because of the existence of many megalithic stones around? The locals would swear that the stones are alive and growing because of some magical quality...
Hmm... Padi fields, greens and hills. Too bad time then was after 6pm while I hope to get to Seremban still more than 20km away before dusk.

Now 20km might not be that far... Ideally, you could always speed the car and cover 20km in less than 10 minutes. But that's probably on a highway, not on a single lane road with some traffic, not when you know at one point it has to climb and weave up the Malaysian main range of Banjaran Titiwangsa before you could weave down to reach Seremban...

Whatever, I tried to enjoy the view as much and as often as I can. So here's another picture from inside the car...
This place which marks the way to a waterfall and picnic area is close to where the climb up the hills and the main range starts...

As it turned out, the climb was rather fast and smooth. It was the way down which became painfully slow because of a long trailer carefully negotiating the many bends while blocking others from overtaking... Until just outside the outskirts of Seremban where the road is straight enough and larger.

Anyway, I arrived at the Negeri Sembilan capital at almost 7pm but there's still enough sunlight to take a picture at my last destination in this particular trip... The tomb of another saintly person. Hmm... I'm sure I've posted an article with some pictures on this particular tomb somewhere in one of my blogspots but couldn't find it.

By the way it is the tomb of a very prominent personality of Negeri Sembilan, Sheikh Muhammad Said al-Linggi. He is a much revered and referred-to religious authority of the late 19th Century till the 20th Century and his children and grandchildren continued to command respect and became places of reference till this day!

With the visit here, the unexpected trip to Negeri Sembilan was concluded. So let me end my current session of writing here. Good night! :]

p/s: Just now when I was looking for other things only did I found the article on Muhammad Said. Here it is Makam (tomb of) Sheikh Muhammad Said Linggi , from the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) written 2 months ago. Cheers!!!

The unexpected Negeri Sembilan trip: Around Seri Menanti and on...

Continuing from the article The unexpected Negeri Sembilan trip: From Rembau to Seri Menanti...

And so I reached Seri Menanti. I immediately head for the main destination there. Above is the gates to the said destination...

So what is this place? Welcome to the old Negeri Sembilan palace which has been turned into a museum. For more pictures of it, look at the article Istana lama (the old palace of) Seri Menanti... in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) ...

Once done at the palace, I immediately head out of Seri Menanti as there's one or two other destinations I wanted to catch before dusk, both being situated at a distance to each other. As I was about to leave the small town, I saw this archway... It was only when I passed it on the way out that I felt like taking a picture... I saw something else calling me to visit...

Actually I saw another arch, a white one pointing the way to the Negeri Sembilan royal mausoleum. But the gates to arch were locked. So I had to go through the way to the mosque... The royal mosque of Tuanku Munawir...

The mosque...

Ah... This must be the Negeri Sembilan royal mausoleum...

Yes it is. It's just that there's no one buried here, yet.

Then I realised this one is the new royal mausoleum built likely for the present royal family. As it turned out, the existing (and used) royal mausoleum is behind it. Have a look at the article Makam diraja (royal mausoleum of) Negeri Sembilan, Seri Menanti in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) .

Whatever, it's time to leave Seri Menanti. A last look at the nice background of hills from inside the car...

So where's the next destination? Guess... I took the straight road. Is it to Tanjung Ipoh or Kuala Pilah?

Almost 20km later, I arrived at another junction... So now, is it to Seremban or Kuala Pilah?

I took the left turning. But if I wanted to go to Seremban, I could have taken the earlier left turning at Seri Menanti. So where am I going? Try reasoning by elimination... As the famous detective Sherlock Holmes would say, elemantary my dear Watson...

Whataver, here is written my next destination. We'll continue the story next time. Cheers! :]

An artfully creative wooden house in Seri Menanti!

OK. This should be the 234th posting in the blogspot. Read on...

Just before reaching the signboard of Seri Menanti as shown in the article The unexpected Negeri Sembilan trip: From Rembau to Seri Menanti... , I saw this interesting wooden house on the road-side...

It certainly is not a typical Malay wooden house. In fact there is no such Malay architecture design!

Whatever, it is interesting. From the look of it, it could only be built by someone creative with a unique sense of art and a strong sense of individuality to veer away from the usual without feeling any shame or fear of critics...

I mean just look at that. Although it looks unpopulated (I could see nobody around), perhaps it is not fit enough a place to stay in because of lack of proper amenities? Anyway it is the kind of place I would build myself and be proud of... That is if I have the money or the opportunity which I don't have...

Then I saw the garage besides with some big bikes which looks like it is either undergoing repair or alteration works... Suddenly I'm reminded of a newspaper article I've read a few years ago on a member of the royalty who likes to design, alter and build big bikes. Perhaps this is his place, right at the outskirt of the Negeri Sembilan royal town of Seri Menanti? Perhaps that is why he could afford to built such a place?

Whatever, for me this unique house (or rather, a place?) merits it's own article here. So that's it, the 234th entry in the blogspot. Good day! :]

The unexpected Negeri Sembilan trip: From Rembau to Seri Menanti...

Ladies and gentlemen, 3 months ago I made a trip around and to selected locations in Negeri Sembilan while making video-clips of it. While the video-clips which featured me as the host explaining the story behind each location in Malay were posted in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU , the static pictures were mainly featured here under the "Journey to Negeri Sembilan" series... Starting with the article Journey to Negeri Sembilan. A new chapter begins... published 27th May.

That trip was supposed to cover another round of locations but time did not permit it. Only more than a month later did I have the opportunity to complete it. And thus another series of writings were posted under the main title "The Negeri Sembilan journey continued" starting with the article The Negeri Sembilan journey continued : A look at the fort of Lukut...

Last week on very short notice, a girlfriend called and asked me to accompany her to see a certain religious old lady in Rembau. So I accompanied her... And without plan, the visit was extended to other locations and in turn quite a long round through Negeri Sembilan!

If the trip 3 months ago was a semi-circle through part of the outer rims of north-east Negeri Sembilan via Kuala Klawang on to the state capital Seremban before it was closed at the tomb of Raja Melewar in Rembau at night, the following trip more than a month later was also a semi-circle but through Sepang, Lukut and on to Port Dickson and Tanjung Tuan in the west-coast before it also ended at night at the tomb of Raja Melewar. The recent trip on the other hand could be said to start at the tomb of Raja Melewar... And then it weaves on through a route I've never ever taken before to the royal town of Seri Menanti and then to a certain location before heading to Seremban and then back to Kuala Lumpur. Here is the story...

Originally this trip is supposed to be only up to the said lady's place. She was recommended by a friend as someone of much foresight and gave us some valuable advice on life. There at her house, when I was about to answer the call of nature it came to mind... I'm already in Rembau, why not have another look at the tomb of Raja Melewar?

For the record, I've been at the tomb twice, during the previous trips around Negeri Sembilan but arrived there both at night. It was noon when I made the trip to visit this old lady. So there should be ample time to get to the tomb and see it for the first time in broad daylight... After all it is about 20km or so from the lady's house... For pictures of the tomb, please read the article Makam Raja Melewar di siang hari (The tomb of Raja Melewar during the day) in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART)

We also took the opportunity to visit the replica of Raja Melewar's place which is also a museum. This is the first time I went in as it was closed both times I was around before. Do have a look at the article Replika istana (The palace replica of Raja Melewar) , also in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) .

The old lady whose father is a deceased prominent religious person said to be of saintly status said we should also visit the tomb of Sheikh Muhammad Said Linggi in Seremban. I've been there a few times and the last one was in the opening trip around Negeri Sembilan 3 months ago. Have a look at the article Makam (tomb of) Sheikh Muhammad Said Linggi .

Actually after the thought to visit the tomb of Raja Melewar came to mind, came the feeling to visit the tomb of Sheikh Muhammad Said Linggi even before she mentioned it. So it was already in my ad hoc plan for the day should we have the time. Another place which came to mind then was the tomb of Tuan Tulis some distance to the east of Seremban which I last visited perhaps more than 5 years ago! Now here is another prominent saintly personality of Negeri Sembilan.

So this was the plan... After visiting the tomb of Raja Melewar, I would head back up north to Seremban to visit the tomb of Sheikh Muhammad Said before going east to the tomb of Tuan Tulis. Then also came a desire to visit the royal small town of Seri Menanti too but it is slightly off the way, quite a few kilometres actually... Would I be able to visit all this places in time? Before the girlfriend had to return home to Kuala Lumpur before dark?

As it turns out, it was at the replica of Raja Melewar's museum that I learned of a route which would make a trip covering all the said places possible within time. I found out that I could get to the tomb of Tuan Tulis which is towards the town of Kuala Pilah without going to Seremban... I have to go through to Seremban later anyway to get back to KL, so I could reserve that for the finishing leg...

Coincidently while going from the old lady's place southwards to get to the tomb of Raja Melewar, I saw the junction in the picture above which somehow made me feel I must go through this way one day, perhaps later if I have the time to see what's inside. As it turned out, it is the alternative route to get to Kuala Pilah from Rembau without going to Seremban...

So I took the road and saw this nice view. At the end of the horizon, the road would climb and weave through a saddle lower part of Malaysia's main mountain range, the Banjaran Titiwangsa.

Somewhere on top of that part of the range is the Rembau-Kuala Pilah districts border...

Later, I came across a junction to a small unmarked road. By unmarked, I mean the whole length of the road didn't have any white paint to mark the centre or sides...

If I remember correctly it points the way to Senaling and I've been told by the attendent at the Raja Melewar palace replica and you could get to Seri Menanti from there. So I took the road... After sometime it starts weaving down some area which looked like it is earmarked to be a plantation before entering some rural settlements. That's when I saw this house, originally owned by the hereditary rulers of the province of Johol but now preserved as a local heritage site...

A few kilometres down the road, I saw this view which I thought was rather quaint!

Why, I even walked a distance out of the car just to snap this picture of the mosque...

Soon enough, we reached the royal town of Seri Menanti... Ah. To be here again after a lapse of 5 years or so. To think that I forgot to include it in my itenary of Negeri Sembilan travels now preserved in video clips peppered in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . Perhaps this unexpected trip to the state was meant to be so I could cover certain prominent locations which I've forgot? Then again, the initial travel under the "Journey to Negeri Sembilan" series was originally made to cover locations which I've never been to at my whole life. That's why I didn't include Seri Menanti because I've been here a few times. To be continued... Cheers! :]

Revisiting the memories of my old school SMSJ...

OK. Sometime after completing the article A look at Melaka from the Taming Sari tower..., the second article written here for tonights session of writing, then I realised that is the 231th article in the blogspot. Coincidently at the time, I've just added two more articles in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) to make a total of 155 articles there while getting ready to post two for the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU to make the total there 383. That's when my weird sense of numbers wanted to me to create a following 'symetry', by adding one more article here to make it a total of 232. The question is about what...

I left the question a while to prepare for the coming article in CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . Then somehow I felt like making a Google search on a certain subject and found the blogspot http://sajoha.blogspot.com/ which happened to be the unofficial blogspot for my old school SMSJ (short form for Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor or Johor Science Secondary School), my alma mater more than 20 years ago! That's when I found and article there posted 1st August referring to my old articles written half a year ago on Kluang (the town where the school is situated at) and the school itself. Suffice to say, it is so refreshing to find some friendly comments from the old boys on my article although many of them came from different periods of schooling...

So that pushed me to have a look at the old articles. The ones on Kluang were from this blogspot, the titles being Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 1 and Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 2. The one on the school itself was written in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU and the title is Memori lama pahit getir SMSJ, Kluang, Johor...

Here, let me republish the pictures from the article Memori lama pahit getir SMSJ, Kluang, Johor... ya. While the article itself is full of words as I reminisced what happened during my school days, here let us just have the pictures with brief descriptions for posterity. So here it is, while making the number of postings in this blogspot to the more 'symetrical' 232. Good night! :]

The small road off the main road leading to the school.

The schoolyard entrance.

The walkway heading to the school buildings.

A corner which used to be outside the school compounds when I was still studying here more than 20 years ago!

The building which houses the canteen next to the workshop for industrial studies.

A look from the top of the hill besides. The top of the hill used to be a jungle outside the compounds, now it is inside...

A look at the buildings housing the classes from the top of the hill.

A look at the top of the hill area from the sides...

Oh... There's a basketball court on top of the hill!

The back of the school's main hall...

Time to walk closer to the classes...

The canteen...

The nearest block of classes...

A look to the left shows the front of the main hall.

Then a walk besides the main sports field...

Hmm... There's a stadium-like theatre building besides, one of the new buildings built sometime after I'm out of school I guess...

A look to the left of the field shows the school's initial SMSJ and the initials for Kluang, KLG...

The dormitories building...

My old room is somewhere up there!

The girls' dormitories across with the food hall in-between...

A block of classes with walls which used to double as the 'screen' for the once-a-week or so movie shows for the students during weekends...

This used to be the main entrance more than 20 years ago...

Now the school-yard extends well beyond!

So much so that it is some 500 metres out to the current entrance...

And so it's time to leave. Do have a look at the old articles which actually lead to this visit to my old school at the end of 2007, in fact on 31st December, the last day of the year!

Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 1

Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 2

Bon voyage! :]